Sipdown no. 52 of the year 2014. A sample; another of the Golden Moon teas that I couldn’t quite make up my mind about after the initial taste-through of the 31 tea sampler. I notice that Adham rated this very highly so I’m using his time and temp to steep instead of my original. 195 for 3:30.
I am probably very over-caffeinated at this point because I’ve been drinking black tea all morning, so I’m using this as a transition out of blacks (it has both black and green tea in it) for the day, but I wonder whether I’m so wired that something has gone wack-o with my smeller.
Sniffing the packet, my first thought was “lime sherbet?” My second was “bubblegum?” Which made me stop to think whether one of the flavors I taste in the flavor known as bubblegum is vanilla, because it certainly isn’t jasmine. But I think vanilla is part of that flavor? This wasn’t what I described smelling the first time around. The longer I sniff, the more I can differentiate the jasmine and the vanilla, of course. But a lot of other associations come along as well. Grape soda?
After steeping I get much more jasmine in the aroma than vanilla this time, though the associations continue. I mentioned crème soda last time, and I can see that, though I also get an impression of flavored fruit soda smell.
I am getting both vanilla and jasmine in the taste, more jasmine than vanilla like last time. The flavor is…. interesting. I like jasmine and I like vanilla, but together they don’t work together as well for me as they do separately. The aftertaste also leaves me with something of a Pepto Bismal association this time. Between that and the back of the throat grab from this mix that I mentioned the first time and that is happening on the second try as well, this is a pass for me. I’m bumping it down because I enjoyed it rather less than most things I’ve tasted in the past couple of weeks. Which is unfortunate because Golden Moon has so many other teas that I love to pieces.
i should try it sometime :D